Ray Rice Asks Fans’ Forgiveness In Open Letter On Domestic Violence

February 15 marks the one-year anniversary of the date Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was taped by a surveillance camera knocking his then fiancée Janay Rice unconscious in an Atlantic City casino elevator. After initially drawing a two-game suspension for acknowledging the incident and apologizing, Rice had the remainder of his $35 million contract terminated by the Ravens. Rice married Janay Rice and had the NFL’s indefinite suspension vacated. He has yet to visit or workout with another NFL team, and amid reports he and his family are leaving Baltimore, Rice wrote the following in The Baltimore Sun.

“There is no excuse for domestic violence, and I apologize for the horrible mistake I made. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, and I hope to make a positive difference in people’s lives by raising awareness of this issue. Thank you, Baltimore Ravens, for all you have done for my family and I. I’m very grateful to Steve Bisciotti, Ozzie Newsome, John Harbaugh, and everyone at 1 Winning Drive. I love you all very much, and I’ll always be proud to say I played for the Baltimore Ravens.”

Rice is currently a free agent and available to sign with any NFL team he can come to contract terms with. After initially being charged with felony aggravated assault following a grand jury indictment, Rice avoided jail time by entering a pretrial intervention program. Rice’s full letter can be read via The Baltimore Sun’s website.